Penns Grove coach cites demands of his outside profession for ending his two-year stint with the Red Devils
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
SALEM – Mark Maccarone says he’s “at peace” with a decision that’s usually fraught with emotion.
The long-time coach, who had some great teams at Glassboro and some not-so-great teams at Penns Grove, coached his final game as a high school coach Saturday when Penns Grove wrapped up its regular season at Salem.
He told the 25 players who stuck out the season in the post-game huddle after their 27-6 loss to complete a winless regular season he was not going to be their coach next season.
He cited the demands of his outside profession as the reason for his decision. For the past two seasons Maccarone has been coming to Penns Grove to coach the Red Devils after his 9-to-5 as a high-level administrator in the Camden County Technical school system.
“I’m a district-level administrator in charge of curriculum at two different high schools,” Maccarone said. “It’s too much to try and do this and do that. That takes precedence. That’s what puts food on the table.
“They were good enough to work with me last year at my district. They thought I was going to step down last year. I asked to coach one more season and they worked with me, but it’s time. My career in education is what pays the bills. It’s time to walk away.”
Penns Grove athletics director Anwar Golden says the Red Devils would play a consolation game for non-playoff teams next week if Maccarone were the coach and Maccarone told the players there could be the possibility of another game, but before Saturday’s game he didn’t sound too confident about his involvement.
Maccarone, 43, is 45-49 in nine years as head coach at Glassboro and Penns Grove. He has two South Jersey Group I titles with the Bulldogs and played in the semis two other times. He is 2-16 in his two years at Penns Grove, including this year’s 0-9, the school’s first winless season in memory.
Interestingly, he was the first of three head coaches hired in Salem County during a three-day stretch in March 2024, one day before Frank Trautz at Woodstown and two days before Kemp Carr at Salem. Ironically, Maccarone’s head coaching career started in 2011 with a loss against Kemp at Penns Grove (54-0) and apparently it will close with a loss to Kemp at Salem (27-6).
“He beat me in a big one though,” Kemp said. “He beat me in a championship game at Rowan. I like Mac. Anytime I invite you over to my house they must be good people. Not a lot of people go past my threshold, so I like him as a person.”
There was a lot of anticipation around the school board building the night Maccarone was approved. Talk of what could and needed to be, but some of the plans and support systems just never materialized.
“When I took the position I didn’t realize the midget program had folded the way it had and there was really a lack of support system among the town,” he said. “Everyone thinks it’s easy to win, but no one wants to actually put in the work to win.
“When you don’t have a feeder program and you have kids who for the first time are playing high school football and it’s their first exposure to football or they’re playing in a midget program somewhere else and it’s a hot spot you can’t be successful. Until that changes, it’ll be the concern of someone who is following me.”
Golden said he understood Maccarone’s decision and appreciated the honesty, professionalism work the coach has done in his two seasons at the school.
He said the Red Devils are going to “move swiftly” in their search for a successor and have been putting opportunities in place since Maccarone told them of his plans at midseason. They already have some interest in the opening from as far away as Tennessee and Utah, he said.
With this chapter of his life is ending, Maccarone said he wouldn’t rule out coaching in college, where he got his start, but he’s done with the high school game.
“When I left Glassboro I didn’t leave on my own terms, so there was still a part of me that kind of wanted to get back into it in the right situation,” Maccarone said. “I can say definitively with where high school sports is going right now, where the NJSIAA is right now, where the officiating is right now, I will never pick up a whistle and coach high school football again.”
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